Title: Stress Level of Grade 12 Working Students of Notre Dame

Authors: John Vincent, Abayan Jordan, Amparo Angelica, Andrino Princess, Bayon-on Jhoenix,
Buenaventura Beejay, Bugarin John Michael, Calica Marlyn, Daria Sherwin Lance, De guinto Sharrel,
Macalla

Duration: First Semester S.Y 2021-2022

Abstract
Introduction

Stress is a commonly used word for all students, especially for working students, According to (Look
Upgrade 2018) " A working student is a person who works at the same time and go to school as a student, it needs a
lot of effort, not only for their work but also in their studies.'' Being a working student is tough, on top of your working
week you have to make time and sit at your desk and do your task, study your lesson even though you want to relax
and spend time with your friends and family. (Burroughs, 2018)

A lot of teenager works for a significant reason; According to the findings of the study conducted by (William,
2014), the bases why students work is due to the lack of financial capability and the need to meet a quick or basic
necessity. One of the important aspects of being a working student is that you have the opportunity to gain
experience and earn money at the same time. ( Kristian, 2021) on the other hand according to the IPL organization
eventually, this will create pressure and a rush to finish work when it is almost due. Most of the students experience a
significant amount of stress and this stress takes a significant toll on the student's health, happiness, and grades.
(Scott, n.d).

Also in the research post of (Gustafson, 2018) that it is widely accepted in the Philippines that women are
more refined in studying than men while also earning lower labor-market salaries than men. An earlier study by
Yamamuchi and Tiongco of De Lasalle University in the Philippines found out that girls tend to receive more
schooling than boys and still receive a lower salary when they enter the labor market.

In the study of (Keady, D.1999) states that student’s encounter several of stress and stressors that is not
common to non-students. (Crandal, et al. 1992) Some of the stressors are homework, tests, studying for the coming
exam plus the class participation. The degree of personal adjustment required to the internal and external demands
can influence the student’s health, performance and productivity (Polson, et al. 1996).

Researches about working students are mostly conducted at universities in a developed country and
focuses on a different perspective, but the researchers lack knowledge about the different amount of stress level
perceived by the students in terms of their gender. According to (Malik, 2016) from Psych Central; students are one
of the most common victims of stress, factors such as financial capabilities, family expectation, deadlines, workload,
and over commitment all prompt stress in students. The importance of determining the stress level is to prevent the
stress accumulation over time due to the reason that it can give rise to serious problems such as depression and
anxiety, which will have a negative effect on the working society and the living community.
 Notre Dame of Trece Martirez is also one of the schools that have many students that work for a living.
Thus the objective of this study is to determine the different amount of stress levels perceived by the Grade 12
students that may affect their academic performance, mental health, and social life.

The purpose of our study is to explore the experiences of the students and to find out the different amount of
perceived stress levels of the students in terms of gender, the significance, and the difference between the two.
Lastly, this study aims to understand and help working students with their time management in hope of a healthy
living and successful life.

Literature Review

Introduction

The review of related literature for this study focuses on several previous studies about working students’
stress levels. According to (Kramer, H. et al.1987) stress is a phenomenon of increasing interest to us all, as
evidenced by the extensive treatment of this topic in the professional literature. Graduate social programs, preparing
students to work with persons negatively affected by stress, may in the process be creating a stressful learning
environment that may harm the student’s emotional or physical health. The kinds of literature used are locally and
outside the country. These studies identify models and several cases of the study of working students, including the
reason why students are forced to work.

Foreign Literature

Stress

Through everyday life, it seems that everyone knows what stress is, but there are various definitions of
stress, researches agree that stress is a process between a person and its environment (Crandall et al., 1992) it
includes the stressors, stress mediators, and stress outcomes (Pearlin, 1989.) A stressed person has physical and
emotional reactions that may result in a response to environmental tensions, conflicts, and pressure (Abouserie,
1994). Relatively research that has been conducted about stress is focused on the assessment and identification of
stressors specific to educational settings and their impact on the students (Cahir & Morris, 1991) Working student
stress is generally common and defined by the study of (Keady.D 1999) from Utah University ‘’Student Stress: An
Analysis of Stress Levels Associated with Higher Education in Social science.’’ Where she discovered that the
employed students would be more stressed than unemployed students due to lack of time and academic stressors
having a greater impact on female employed students rather than males. The literature consistently states that
females report more stress than males (Cahir & Morris, 1991; Gadzella, 1994; Hudson & O’ Regan, 1994) as stress
is defined as the need to adapt to life events or transitions. The essential elements in the study of stress are the
presence of a variety of types of stress among students because they are exposed to social and economic conditions
(Pearlin, 1989). According to the study of (Schwartz, H et al; n.d) that as the number of hours in work increased the
stress level also increased as well, it concluded that an increased amount of hours spent working fosters an
imbalance between work and life.

According to the findings of (Kramer, H. et al. 1987), 119 graduate social work students revealed a higher
level of stress among part-time students than full-time working students. Part-time off-campus students reported a
higher level of stress than on-campus students. Thirty-eight variables, representing three major groupings of
stressors, were examined and analyzed to compare from full-time and part-time programs. In the study of (Keady, D.
et al. 1987) Academic stressors were the only measure that yielded statistical significance with gender, employment
status, or marital status. The magnitude of shared variability ranged from 2% to 6% Female scored higher on
Academic Stressors, Life style, stress symptoms and demand on coping up on either full-time or part-time employed
students. Following that a study conducted by Schroeder from Webster University states that there was no significant
difference in stress level as a function of job status, nor was there a difference in stress level because of the number
of hours worked per week. Another important finding was the difference in stress between men and women. Women
had significantly higher stress levels than men; this may be due to a tendency for women to handle stress differently
than men.

(Mussarat, JK. 2013) Investigated in his study the effects of academic stress on student’s performance and
to distinguish the academic stress among the students on the basis of their gender, age, and their educational level.
A sample of 150 student’s was conducted from different Universities of Islamabad, T-test were applied for analysis,
the results showed non-significant difference between male and female on Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) which
consist of 10 items and reliability is 0.74 that indicates that the scale is reliable.

Local Literature

From the study of Senior High School Students in Davao del Sur ‘’The Experiences of Working While
Studying: A Phenomenological Study.’’ It is concluded that students work for a reason which is the driving force of the
students: lack of financial support, being independent, self-development, and gaining experience that they could use
in the future. The students work for the main purpose of “money” it is their internal motivation to work hard and
pursue their studies at the same time it also gives them independence and good time management although it is hard
it brings them great joy and be proud of what they know and achieved. It gives them a sense of being responsible for
their actions and choices, they get a lot of experience which can help them and improve their decision in a life
situation problem.

Therefore, in the literature review the stressors, reasons why students work are discussed. Since the
foreign literature was focused on the various stressors and different programs, while the local literature study only
focuses on the experience of the working student and not on their perceived stress level in terms of gender, this
leads us to the conclusion that the study requires further discussion and investigation about the working students'
perceived stress level in terms of gender.

Research Problem

The study aimed to know if the amount of stress level perceived by the Grade 12 working students, specifically the
researchers seeks the answers to the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the participants in terms of

a. Gender

2. What is the perceived level of stress of the participants in terms of

a. Gender

3. Is there any significant difference between stress level and gender?

Hypotheses

Ho1= There is no significant difference between the student’s stress level and gender.

Conceptual Framework

Working Students
Gender perceived Stress level
 Figure 1. The Diagram of the Study

The illustration of the diagram shows the sequence of the research study. The researchers are interested in
looking at the Grade 12 student's demographic profile in terms of gender, being the independent variable, and the
working students perceived level as the dependent variable. The relation of the gender and perceived stress level of
the working student is the main goal of this study.

Methodology

Research Design

Participants

Instrument

Data Gathering Collection

Statistical Analysis

Ethical Consideration